Union official from jersey city local sentenced to
six months in prison for embezzling money

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 13, 2013

NEWARK, N.J. – The president of Local 148 of the Production Workers Union was sentenced today to six months in prison for conspiring with the secretary-treasurer/recording secretary to steal money from the union by taking unauthorized salary increases and bonuses, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Stephen P. Arena, 58, of Nesconset, N.Y., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to Count One of a 24-count Indictment, which charged Arena with conspiracy to embezzle money and funds from Local 148. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Local 148 of the Production Workers Union of the Allied, Novelty, and Production Workers of America, located in Jersey City, N.J., represents workers from various trades, including bus drivers, hotel workers, and factory workers.

Arena, the union’s president, and David J. Caivano, its secretary-treasurer/recording secretary, conspired to embezzle money belonging to Local 148 by giving themselves unauthorized salary increases and bonuses with no legitimate union purpose and which had not been authorized by the union or its members. Arena admitted he conspired with Caivano to embezzle money from the union.

Caivano pleaded guilty before Judge Chesler to unlawfully engaging in a financial transaction with a labor union and was sentenced to three years of probation.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Arena to two years of supervised release and fined him $5,000. Arena’s plea agreement also requires him to repay the union approximately $110,000 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Panella; investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards, New York District Office, under the direction of District Director Andriana Vamvakas, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Moscato of the U.S. Attorney Office’s Organized Crime/Gangs unit, in Newark.